Bloomberg Tries To Cut Ethics Requirements For Public Officials

Just when the climate in Albany and down here in the City couldn't be more corrupt, Mayor Bloomberg is taking a stab at making it easier to hide personal information for public officials. Ethical scandals haven't just been occurring in Albany but down here in New York City as well. Quinn had her slush funds exposed not too long ago, Dennis Gallagher was found to be a scumbag and our last Mayor was Rudy Giuliani, so enough said. If anything these men and women who are elected to represent us should be willing to or made to disclose anything and everything that is pertinent to the way they govern and what things or people might influence them in one way or another. So why is Bloomberg going in exactly the opposite direction?

From The NY Times:

Among the proposed changes, public servants would no longer have to provide dollar amounts or ranges on outside income. In addition, they would need to report only gifts (worth at least $50) they received from people who did business with the city, not all gifts larger than $1,000, as is the current law.

Also slated to come off the disclosure form are investments worth between $1,000 and $10,000 and real estate holdings located more than a quarter-mile outside the city limits.

Among the planned additions to the forms is the disclosure of relatives who hold city jobs, a question intended to discourage nepotism.

Of those generally required to submit disclosure reports, most are elected officials, candidates for public office, policy makers, purchasing agents and other high-level public servants.

The bill was meant to reduce the paperload for volunteers, but this ends up giving politcians cover in so many ways. While there are some good things in there, the bill is still flawed and good government groups were the first to react to this news.

Still, the proposed changes are causing ripples among groups that promote transparency in government and are not convinced that less is more. Several said they were concerned that the changes had not been widely discussed before becoming part of the legislation. “It seems to me whenever there’s a shrinkage of information, the public should be concerned,” said Norman Siegel, a longtime civil rights advocate who is running for public advocate next year.

Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union, a watchdog group, said: “I wouldn’t want the disclosure forms changed in a way that would limit or diminish information that has been previously required. In fact, there may be good reasons to increase the disclosure requirements as opposed to loosening.”

Less is definitely not more in this case and Bloomberg should be well aware of that. The fact that the bill was partially hidden by an effort to help city volunteers is rather distasteful. Actually, it almost tastes as sour as the Mayor's subtle influence in the term limits battle that is now being discussed across the city. Like in that debate, this seems like another attempt by the Mayor and his minions in order to hold on to more power at the public's expense.

Obama's Latest Ad Highlights McCain's Dishonest Campaign

The greatest thing is that none of this is really Obama's words. All the evidence comes from how the media is beginning to see John McCain. Once people start associating the word "liar" instead of "maverick" when thinking about the GOP nominee, he won't stand a chance next to the candidate that signifies hope and change.

Barack Obama Has The Right Message For This Horrific Financial Day

Senator John McCain thinks that the economy is fundamentally sound and that we should keep dropping taxes for the rich while wasting ten billion dollars a month (and lives) in Iraq. Obviously this has not been working as evidenced by our mounting national and personal debt. Today we are starting to see the beginning of the blowback for these conservative policies with large and storied financial institutions falling like a house of cards. Unlike McCain who is advocating for more of the same, Barack Obama has exactly the right message:

This morning we woke up to some very serious and troubling news from Wall Street.

The situation with Lehman Brothers and other financial institutions is the latest in a wave of crises that are generating enormous uncertainty about the future of our financial markets. This turmoil is a major threat to our economy and its ability to create good-paying jobs and help working Americans pay their bills, save for their future, and make their mortgage payments.

The challenges facing our financial system today are more evidence that too many folks in Washington and on Wall Street weren’t minding the store. Eight years of policies that have shredded consumer protections, loosened oversight and regulation, and encouraged outsized bonuses to CEOs while ignoring middle-class Americans have brought us to the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression.

I certainly don’t fault Senator McCain for these problems, but I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to. It’s a philosophy we’ve had for the last eight years – one that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. It’s a philosophy that says even common-sense regulations are unnecessary and unwise, and one that says we should just stick our heads in the sand and ignore economic problems until they spiral into crises.

Well now, instead of prosperity trickling down, the pain has trickled up – from the struggles of hardworking Americans on Main Street to the largest firms of Wall Street.

This country can’t afford another four years of this failed philosophy. For years, I have consistently called for modernizing the rules of the road to suit a 21st century market – rules that would protect American investors and consumers. And I’ve called for policies that grow our economy and our middle-class together. That is the change I am calling for in this campaign, and that is the change I will bring as President.

Change isn't just an empty slogan for politicians to throw around while their policies are meant to keep the status quo going. McCain can say the word "change" all he wants but his actions show he wants the rich to get richer at the expense of the poor. Barack Obama wants to take us in a different direction than the one we've been heading in for the last eight years, so for the next fifty days we must work to get him in the White House in order to start the ball rolling.

Return Of The Vito In Staten Island?

Rumor, or shall I say a targeted polling operation has it that Vito Fossella may try to re-enter the race for the Congressional seat that still bears his name. Originally Vito dropped his re-election bid when he was arrested for driving under the influence and the subsequent story of his hidden family (hidden from his wife and three kids) surfaced. The result was the not-so-surprising revelation that the GOP is a fractured bunch down in Staten Island.

Now that Straniere is the nominee and the fact remains that he isn't well liked even amongst his own party, perhaps Vito thinks he can become the hero and save the day (or at least hang on to one seat for the Republican caucus). Either way, this sounds like the latest piece of bad news for an already desperate race on the part of the Republicans.

From The NY Post:

Embattled Staten Island congressman Vito Fossella may be trying to make his way back onto the ballot this November, sources confirmed to The Post last night.

Pollsters reached out to Staten Islanders over the weekend looking for their opinions about Fossella, who chose not to seek re-election after being arrested for DWI and amid revelations that he fathered a child with a mistress. The polling was originally reported in the Staten Island Advance.

Making a run on the Republican ticket might be next to impossible because another pol, Robert Straniere, has already locked up the nomination. "I just don't see it," said one friend, noting Fossella's DWI trial starts next month.

I don't see it working out either, but frankly, I don't see it working out well for the GOP no matter what they do. Straniere is the name on the ballot and Vito would have to presumably be a write-in candidate. It may be more probable for that to work on the Island rather than any other borough, but it is still a long shot for them to even get the party to coalesce, let alone the majority of voters. The really sad thing is though (for the GOP) that an attempted Vito comeback may just be the best thing going for them.

Fiorina Lies For Palin's Earmark Hypocrisy, But The Truth Still Shines Through

Carly Fiorina was busy this weekend lying her ass off for the McCain/Palin campaign. Fortunately for the rest of us, Senator Claire McCaskill and ABC News host George Stephanopolous were ready to interject the truth about Sarah Palin and her record with earmarks.

GOP "Family Values" Summit Serves Up Obama Waffles, Lou Dobbs Loves Em'

Over and over again we hear that the Republicans are the party of family values and that Democrats are dirty hippies who want to rip apart the nuclear household. They have organizations with names to support that meme and talk incessantly that they are the ones that will hold the traditional family together. One thing that they forget is that they're also the party of not-so-hidden racism and bigotry, and it was on display at their latest even this weekend.

From RawStory:

An exhibitor at the 2008 Value Voters Summit - sponsored by the Family Research Council and counting among its speakers former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been selling seemingly racist anti-Obama waffles. The product is pictured below. Summit security would not allow photographs to be taken inside the exhibit hall. "I asked the 'chef'... if he was at all concerned that this might be viewed as a white man putting a black man into a frying pan," Raw Story reporter Larisa Alexandrovna wrote Saturday. "He laughed and said, 'I hope so.'" The first image shows a gaping caricature of Obama under the words "Obama Waffles," with the tagline "Waffling the World Over." The second shows Obama in a turban with the words, "Point box toward Mecca for tastier waffles."

At first a skeptic could just dismiss this as characterizing political waffling on issues. Yet taking a look at the product gives an instant indication as to what the creators of this garbage were meaning to do. Oh and this wasn't just for the fringe, even CNN personality Lou Dobbs loved the racially-tinged waffles:

According to the the site's blog, Lou Dobbs, who was also speaking at the convention, lauded the product Friday.

"My wife will love this," Dobbs purportedly said. A photograph of Dobbs with a box and one of the sellers is online here.

Lou (or his supporters) had it taken down, but thanks to the miracle of the Internet, you can see the screen shot...and the ugly truth of the racist right.

The More We Learn About Palin, The Scarier She Gets

Since Sarah Palin was a political unknown up until about two weeks ago, tons of information has come out about her. Being kept in the spotlight since then and continuing up until election day will produce a steady stream of news as Americans become increasingly involved in the upcoming election. After the deluge of the first week, a strong and steady stream of facts persists. This weekend the NY Times chronicled her tenure as Governor and Mayor, showing her to play a personal and local game of politics that involved hiring her friends that weren't competent for their positions. Vendettas were executed with the power of the state government behind them, when at most they should have had the force of Maury or Jerry Springer.

The litany of interviews and accounts from her record were appalling, especially to people that care about reform and not just using the word as a slogan. Yet even a lengthy article in the Times couldn't detail everything. Since then we've learned that she had a tanning bed installed in the Governor's Mansion shortly after she took over (not too much sun in Alaska during the winter months) and the state paid for a timely rewiring of the Mansion around the same time. Of course this has nothing to do with her potential policy decisions as Vice-President (though she doesn't even know what a VP does, so we might be O.K. there). Yet in American politics today, such things as a $400 haircut and windsurfing have profound impacts on the electorate, so who knows where that one will go.

Another disturbing fact is her virulent activism against those that choose to have abortions. She is firmly on the side of the choice debate that is against women from deciding what to do with their bodies and so far right that in her mind, abortions should be against the law even in the case of rape and incest. While she fights against the rights of Americans, she has dedicated time to blocking access to abortion clinics in the past.

Thankfully Americans are beginning to see the real Sarah Palin and not the carefully crafted politician that so many GOP operatives have been working overtime on. Just this weekend, one of the largest political rallies was held in the history of Alaska in honor order to protest their Governor(where the image above is from). If you get that type of response in supposedly "red" Alaska that knows Sarah, you can only imagine the reaction the other forty-nine states will have once they know her as well.

It's Bad When Rove Calls Out Your Lies

Even the official chief liar and manipulator Karl Rove couldn't spin away the blatant string of lies that McCain has tried to pull over the American people:

Greenspan Laments Faltering Economy He Created And McCain's Wish To Continue It

Alan Greenspan rightly slammed McCain for his proposal to lower taxes again for the rich while not reducing spending. It is just idiotic to keep borrowing money from other countries at the rate that we do and not expect dire consequences to our market. Now that "Black Monday" is upon us and European markets are already off by five percent, we are about to get a taste of what McCain wants to continue.

From The Huffington Post:

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan offered a woeful outlook of America's economic situation on Sunday, saying the crisis with the country's financial institutions was as dire as he had ever seen in his long career, and predicting that one or more of those institutions would likely collapse in the near future.

"Oh, by far," Greenspan said, when asked if the situation was the worst he had seen in his career. "There's no question that this is in the process of outstripping anything I've seen and it still is not resolved and still has a way to go and, indeed, it will continue to be a corrosive force until the price of homes in the United States stabilizes. That will induce a series of events around the globe which will stabilize the system."[...]

In light of these dynamics, Greenspan noted that the government was left with tough decisions: which institutions are "so fundamental to the functioning" of society that they demanded a federal safety net? Earlier in the week, the former fed chairman noted that such choses extended to tax policy as well. In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Greenspan argued that the country couldn't afford the tax cuts being proposed by John McCain without an equally massive reduction in spending.

"I'm not in favor of financing tax cuts with borrowed money," he said. "I always have tied tax cuts to spending."

Now those comments are well and good now, but Greenspan did not admit to all the trouble he helped create throughout his tenure as Federal Reserve Chairman. Entire websites are dedicated to chronicling his failure to guide our economy away from exactly what he is decrying now. We've been borrowing for far too long and now multiple factors are helping take down an Investment Bank institution that has stood on Wall Street since 1850. The same factors led to Merrill Lynch selling itself to Bank of America and now Washington Mutual threats of going under as well.

We are in a serious economic crisis and any Republican (like McCain) that says the fundamentals are strong have no right to be near any levers of power that can affect the teetering system. The rich can always ride out downturns like this, but they don't give a shit about the poor...don't expect McCain to be any different. As for Greenspan, he helped start this mess so for anyone to be listening to him without a skeptical ear is just beyond absurd.

Moving Energy Subsidies From Fossil Fuels To Renewables Could Quadruple Jobs

Right now billions in subsides are given to the oil companies from politicians who receive their campaign donations. Yet with a little long range planning, that money could be reinvested into clean energy and quadruple the jobs provided by the current pollution-driven scenario. Nothing good comes from oil, except for the continuation of our petro-economy that is slowly killing our environment and by extension, all of humanity and the biosphere too. So imagine, if you will, the possibilities of a green economy, full of green jobs.

From The NY Times:

Investing in clean energy could create four times as many jobs as investing in the oil industry, according to a report issued on Tuesday by the Sierra Club, United Steelworkers, the Blue Green Alliance, Natural Resources Defense Council and Audubon New York. And clean energy investment would result in about three times the number of good-paying jobs, those that pay at least $16 an hour, according to the report, which was written by the Center for American Progress and the Political Economy Research Institute.

Clean energy, to help deter the effects of global warming, could help reduce New Yorkers’ fears of rising temperatures and receding shorelines. The report encourages investment in six areas: retrofitting buildings to improve energy efficiency, expanding mass transit and freight rail, constructing “smart” electrical grid transmission systems, wind power, solar power and next-generation biofuels.

Such jobs are based on the proposed investment of $100 billion over two years, through a cap-and-trade program like those sponsored last year in Congress that would “drive private investments into clean energy and raise public revenue through carbon permit auctions.” And spending $26 billion on retrofitting, for example, could save $5 billion in energy costs a year, for a net savings after five years or so, according to the report.

Of course not all jobs include going out to remote locations and building giant wind farms. A large part of this budding industry can be found close to home, whether it is by installing small wind generators or simply making current buildings more energy-efficient. Changing the way we live in deference to the future of the planet may sound hard because of the massive scale of our economy. However, there is no better option and honestly, if it pays well to help save the world job by job then that just sweetens the pot.

Deconstructing McCain's Lies, One At A Time

This is a devastating video that John McCain and his die-hard supporters never want you to see, simply because it contains the truth that refutes their constant stream of lies.

Who Will Get High-Speed Rail First, CA Or The Northeast?

While most of Western Europe and East Asia is criss-crossed by dependable high-speed rail connections, the United States is still in the preliminary stages of building the first line. Of course, we have start somewhere and thus far we have two geographic candidates, California and the Northeast. Right now rail service in California is slow to say the least and while the Northeast has good service, it can be much better. So what is going on with both plans for improvement now?

From DMI Blog:

In November California voters will have the opportunity to vote for high-speed rail linking San Francisco with Los Angeles.

High-speed rail in the Northeast also came closer to reality in July when the House of Representatives passed the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act, which includes provisions that support the development of high-speed rail for the Washington, DC to New York corridor.

Both initiatives are still a long ways from becoming reality. If the California ballot proposition is passed, the state will still have to locate federal and private funding sources.

The California line would take two and a half hours from San Francisco to L.A. and cost $55. A quick search on Expedia.com shows me that a flight between the two cities takes about an hour and fifteen minutes and costs between $118 and $188. When you factor in the amount of time you spend getting to and waiting at the airport, the high-speed rail option seems like it will be very competitive.

So the plans sound good and the benefits are tremendous. The problem is if our government is capable of making the investment to actually build the tracks and the cars to run on them. Finding the dollars to make it happen is a lot harder than dreaming up the plan. With all the money we throw away in Iraq, give away to the defense industry and give back to wealthiest amongst us, the feat is nearly impossible. The only way I see this happening is if we have a President willing to change the direction the income gap is going in...and having a Vice-President that cares about rail travel (since he's been riding Amtrak to work in the Senate for over three decades).